CASTRO VALLEY — The East Bay Regional Park District board voted unanimously Tuesday to close the gun range at Anthony Chabot Regional Park because of extensive lead contamination, giving the club’s owners 12 months to wind down operations.

The vote came after more than five hours of comments from a spillover crowd of nearly 500 people who showed up at the meeting. Some 235 people signed up to have their moment at the podium, but many left before their turn came up. About 100 stuck around long enough to weigh in.

“Keep it open for people like myself and future victims,” said Karen Nunez of Richmond, who said she had been stalked. “You will be closing not just a gun range but closing a community.”

But others, like Bob Flasher, a frequent hiker, spoke against the range for its environmental impacts. “I don’t see how you can allow a use that continues to put lead in the environment,” he told the board.

Tuesday’s vote to close the half-century-old range follows years of concern over its contributions to extensive lead contamination in soil and water on public park land.

Environmentalists and gun club neighbors have criticized the club as a noisy, toxic headache that should be closed. Proponents said the range should remain open to provide a convenient place for civilians and police officers to learn about gun safety and practice marksmanship.

“It is far better to have a little lead that can be remediated than having it dispensed in the city of Oakland,” said Randy Lantz, a retired police officer who teaches firearms safety, suggesting closing the range could spur more shootings in city streets.

But park board member Ayn Wieskamp echoed a sentiment shared by many on the board, that the range needs to be closed.

“I would not be responsible if we didn’t clean it up, and the only way we can clean it up is to close it,” Wieskamp said.

Fellow board member John Sutter, from Oakland, said it is time to shut down the range because the Chabot Gun Club can’t afford the steep cost to manage and clean up the lead leached off spent shells into soil and water.

Park officials estimate it could cost some $200,000 a year to contain tainted runoff, and $2 million to $20 million over the long term to clean it up.

“The reality is the money isn’t there,” Sutter said. “And it comes down to how much of a subsidy you can justify to taxpayers.”

But the club’s operators say they believe park officials have exaggerated the cleanup costs. The club has suggested it pay for cleanup costs by raising shooting fees by $7 per user.

In addition, club operators say the range is needed to provide a diversity of recreation among the district’s 120,000 acres in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

The gun range opened in 1963 and has become a popular place for civilians and police because it has a variety of courses of different lengths.